GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
God save the Queen. The time has been
When these charmed words, or said or sung,
Have through the welkin proudly rung;
And, heads uncovered, every tongue
Has echoed back - "God save the Queen!"
God save the Queen!
It was not like the feeble cry
That slaves might raise as tyrants pass'd,
With trembling knees and hearts downcast,
While dungeoned victims breathed their last
In mingled groans of agony!
God save the Queen!
Nor were these shouts without the will,
Which servile crowds oft send on high,
When gold and jewels meet the eye,
When pride looks down on poverty.
And makes the poor man poorer still!
God save the Queen!
No! - it was like the thrilling shout -
The joyous sounds of price and praise
That patriot hearts are wont to raise,
'Mid cannon's roar and bonfires blaze,
When Britain's foes are put to rout -
God save the Queen!
For 'mid those sounds, to Britons dear,
No dastard selfish thoughts intrude
To mar a nation's gratitude:
But one soul moves that multitude -
To sing in accents loud and clear -
God save the Queen!
Such sounds as these in days of yore,
On war-ship's deck and battle plain,
Have rung o'er heaps of foemen slain -
And with God's help they'll ring again,
When warriors' blood shall flow no more,
God save the Queen!
God save the Queen! let patriots cry;
And palsied be the impious hand
Would guide the pen, or wield the brand,
Against our glorious Fatherland.
Let shouts of freemen rend the sky,
God save the Queen! - and Liberty!
Reader! my task is ended.
APPENDIX A
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION
Published by Richard Bentley in 1854
In justice to Mrs. Moodie, it is right to state that being still
resident in the far-west of Canada, she has not been able to
superintend this work whilst passing through the press. From this
circumstance some verbal mistakes and oversights may have occurred,
but the greatest care has been taken to avoid them.
Although well known as an authoress in Canada, and a member of a
family which has enriched English literature with works of very
high popularity, Mrs. Moodie is chiefly remembered in this country
by a volume of Poems published in 1831, under her maden name of
Susanna Strickland. During the rebellion in Canada, her loyal
lyrics, prompted by strong affection for her native country, were
circulated and sung throughout the colony, and produced a great
effect in rousing an enthusiastic feeling in favour of law and
order. Another of her lyrical compositions, the charming Sleigh
Song, printed in the present work [at the end of chapter VII],
has been extremely popular in Canada. The warmth of feeling
which beams through every line, and the touching truthfulness
of its details, won for it a reception there as universal as it
was favourable.
The glowing narrative of personal incident and suffering which
she gives in the present work, will no doubt attract general
attention. It would be difficult to point out delineations of
fortitude under privation, more interesting or more pathetic
than those contained in her second volume.
London, January 22, 1852
APPENDIX B
CANADA: A CONTRAST
Introductory Chapter to the First Canadian Edition (1871)
In the year 1832 I landed with my husband, J.W. Dunbar Moodie,
in Canada. Mr. Moodie was the youngest son of Major Moodie, of
Mellsetter, in the Orkney Islands; he was a lieutenant in the
21st Regiment of Fusileers, and had been severely wounded in
the night-attack upon Bergen-op-Zoom, in Holland.
Not being overgifted with the good things of this world - the
younger sons of old British families seldom are - he had, after
mature deliberation, determined to try his fortunes in Canada,
and settle upon the grant of 400 acres of land ceded by the
Government to officers upon half-pay.
Emigration, in most cases - and ours was no exception to the general
rule - is a matter of necessity, not of choice. It may, indeed,
generally be regarded as an act of duty performed at the expense
of personal enjoyment, and at the sacrifice of all those local
attachments which stamp the scenes in which our childhood grew in
imperishable characters upon the heart.
Nor is it, until adversity has pressed hard upon the wounded spirit
of the sons and daughters of old, but impoverished, families, that
they can subdue their proud and rebellious feelings, and submit to
make the trial.
This was our case, and our motive for emigrating to one of the
British colonies can be summed up in a few words.
The emigrant's hope of bettering his condition, and securing a
sufficient competence to support his family, to free himself from
the slighting remarks too often hurled at the poor gentleman by the
practical people of the world, which is always galling to a proud
man, but doubly so when he knows that the want of wealth constitues
the sole difference between him and the more favoured offspring of
the same parent stock.
In 1830 the tide of emigration flowed westward, and Canada became
the great landmark for the rich in hope and poor in purse. Public
newspapers and private letters teemed with the almost fabulous
advantages to be derived from a settlement in this highly favoured
region. Men, who had been doubtful of supporting their families in
comfort at home, thought that they had only to land in Canada to
realize a fortune. The infection became general. Thousands and tens
of thousands from the middle ranks of British society, for the space
of three or four years, landed upon these shores.
